


The Birth Of An Assassin

by Frostbite711



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-21
Updated: 2020-11-21
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:40:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,910
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27657638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frostbite711/pseuds/Frostbite711
Summary: Vanalyn, a Shadard-Kai assassin, tells the story of what led her to become who she is today. She talks of her loss and the people she met along her journey before she joined up with an adventuring group.





	The Birth Of An Assassin

The day I took my first life, was the very same day my mother died…

Hearing this, you might think: You killed your mother? You’re an awful person!

I’m not going to deny that I am an awful person, but I wasn’t the one who killed my mother. An adventurer did.

You see, that day, I was out playing by the creek that was a ways from our house, the darkness of the Shadowfell all around me, while I tried to see if there were any creatures in the water to catch. And that’s when it happened.

I heard a scream come from my home and spun around, turning toward the sound. My eyes widened just a bit before I abandoned what I was doing and raced to that house as fast as my 9-year-old legs could carry me.

As soon as I reached the house, I noticed something was wrong. The door to the house was open, and I knew my mother hated it being left open. Quiet as I could, I slowed my pace and walked toward the house. “Mama?” I called out softly as I slipped inside.

That’s when I froze. My mother lay on the floor, clutching her side while red blood pooled out around her on the floor and stained her clothing. Above her stood a human man, a blade in his hand that dripped with blood.

I suddenly felt the blood within my veins boil in anger and I didn’t care that the shadows beneath me were shifting as they tended to do when Shadar-Kai were angry. With a shout, I raced forward, grabbing a small blade that I’d seen lying on the ground -- one I assumed my mother had tried to use to defend herself -- before I stabbed the man as he turned around. The blade went through his stomach with a satisfying SHLING sound.

He gasped in surprise and moved his blade to attack me, but I teleported away. He seemed caught off guard by both the blade and my teleporting before he made his way toward me, stumbling.

I instinctively backed up as he neared, but he didn’t get far before he collapsed. I moved forward once I felt he didn’t have much strength and pulled his blade from him before I put my small hands around the blade I’d stabbed him with and yanked it out before I began to stab him over and over, blood splattering everywhere.

Once I was sure he was dead, I turned and raced toward my mom. “Mama!” I called out.

As I came next to her, I got down on my hands and knees. “Mama,” I said again.

Her eyelashes fluttered and she turned her head toward me, a smile appearing on her face as she lifted a bloodied hand to my face. I leaned into the touch and closed my eyes as she spoke.

“I’m sorry, Vanalyn. I can’t be with you anymore. I love you,” she said before her hand dropped.

My eyes opened and I stared at her, watching as she took one last breath. “Mama?” I said before I realized what had happened. “Mama!” I cried out, tears coming to my eyes before I crouched over her and began to cry, not caring that blood coated my clothes, skin and hair, or that my feet hurt from outside barefoot.

I don’t know when I fell asleep, but I remember waking to the sound of boots on the threshold of the house. I bolted upright, grabbing the blade I’d been using.

Whoever was there stopped as they noticed her. “So you’re alive...Don’t worry, I’m not here to kill you, otherwise you’d already be dead,” the voice was deep, suggesting a male. The figure then crouched down and examined the dead man Vanalyn had killed.

“Who killed this man? I’m going to guess that by the blade next to him that he killed Sahyeh,” the newcomer said.

I flinched involuntarily and clutched the blade tighter.

The figure looked up and I noticed despite the darkness that the figure was a male Shadar-Kai with raven black hair and black armor. “Ah, so you killed him. I’m going to guess that it was your first kill. Good job, though it is a little messy,” he said.

I said nothing for a moment before looking down at my mother’s body that by now was ice cold, before looking back up. “Who are you?”

“Ah, so you aren’t a mute. My name is Surdiord.”

“You know my mother’s name...but I’ve never seen you in the village. How do you know her?”

Surdiord stood and looked over at me with his dark eyes. “Because, I loved her. I’ve been traveling for the past few years, so I don’t think we’ve met. What is your name little one?“

“Vanalyn,” I answered.

He suddenly seemed to look at me in a new light. “Vanalyn, you will have to come with me. We can’t have you staying here by yourself,” he said.

I looked down at my mother before looking back at him. “Okay....” I wasn’t to happy about leaving my mother, but I knew that she was dead, and it wouldn’t be smart to stay here, so I followed him as he turned and lead the way out of my home and toward the village.

Though we lived not far from the village, my mother had rarely taken me there so when Surdiord brought me with him, I couldn’t help but feel intimidated so I reached up and gripped onto his arm like it was an anchor as I noticed the other Shadar-Kai glancing at the two of us. He glanced down, but didn’t seem to mind.

Finally, he brought me to a decently looking house where he knocked on the door.

A few minutes later, the door opened and a young woman stood on the other side. She smiled when she saw him and gave him a hug. “Surdiord, you’ve retur--” she broke off as she noticed me.

I ducked behind him, hiding myself to the best of my ability.

“Who is this? Are you picking up strays now?”

“This is Vanalyn. Sahyeh’s daughter, I found her crouched over her mother’s lifeless corpse.”

The female’s face flashed through several emotions, none of which I could place. “That’s awful. Poor child.”

“I was wondering if she could stay here with you...when I’m away,” he said.

“Of course, brother. Anything,” the female said, giving him a smile. Then she turned toward me. “Vanalyn right? Would you like to get cleaned up? I’m sure that blood isn’t all that comfortable.”

I looked up at Surdiord. The female had called him brother, so I assumed that they were siblings. He gave me a slight nod and then I turned to look up at the woman. I slowly released my grip on Surdiord and took the female’s hand, allowing her to guide me to the washroom.

I glanced back at Surdiord to see him following a bit and closing the door behind us.

. . .  
  


Over the next several years, I grew up with Fahren and Surdiord. Though Surdiord often left to go travel, I would always spend time with him when he returned, and the only reason I hadn’t joined him was because he said that I “wasn’t ready” for the outside world yet.

Being raised by the two of them, they together taught me how to fight and protect myself. Suridord eventually started teaching me how to sneak up and kill my opponents with various different tactics.

I’d found it odd that he’d be willing to take so much care of me, until I figured it out that he was my father. I never said anything to him, but I just knew he was, same as how I found out that my mother had once been a great assassin. She had abandoned that lifestyle once I had been born to raise me and protect me, not that it had helped her much in the end.

Once I became 12, Suridord helped me receive my first Tattoo as a reminder of what had happened to my mother and he said I was ready. Ready to go adventure.

Excited upon my first prospect of leaving the Shadowfell, I quickly packed up my weapons and donned my armor before I followed him out.

Upon leaving the Shadowfell, he allowed me to travel with him for a year before he told me it was time to head out on my own. Which is when I set about becoming an assassin -- a true assassin.

Many years later, when I was 16, I met Seldszar T’sarran, a Drow fighter. We had managed to stumble into one another while I was on my way to a particularly difficult assignment. I found out that he was also sent to kill the tyrant, so we came to a decision to work together.

After a successful mission, I we celebrated and he explained a bit of his past. While I secretly sympathized with his story, a part of me thought his cowardly behavior had been weak and pointed it out to him. He agreed that he had been a coward, and he lived with that guilt everyday, but he was trying to make up for it by finding his people’s killer.

I promised him that I would help him avenge his people.

It was after this promise that I decided to show him my world. So we set about to the Shadowfell.

Though he was a little cautious, I told him I’d have his back if things got hairy, but upon returning to my village, we found it burnt to the ground. In horror, I ran to the Fahren’s house, but like the rest of the village, her house had been burnt and I found her body not far from the wreckage.

I fell to my knees and stared in horror. I felt a hand rest on my shoulder and I instinctively lashed out, a blade in my hands. I stopped once I realized the person I held my knife up against was Surdiord.

“Father…” I whispered, not caring what I’d just said.

He said nothing for a moment, seeming surprised before he pulled me a little closer and hugged me. “I was too late to save your mother. And I was too late to save my sister. I’m sorry Vanalyn,” he said before he pulled away.

I looked up into his dark eyes. “I cannot stay with you. I would not be surprised if this has fallen upon you and everyone else because of me. Please, do not seek me,” Surdiord said before he turned and teleported away into the darkness.

I stared after him before finally remembering Seldszar was there. I turned toward the Drow, my expression dark. “Let’s go,” I said.

I’d just lost everything I’d care about. My mother was gone, my village, my aunt, and now my father. Though my father wasn’t exactly dead, I wasn’t stupid enough to go looking for him again.

After the sorrow I faced, I found myself finding it harder and harder to find some reason to anchor myself in this world. Seldszar helped, trying to keep me from killing myself, but it was difficult. And eventually, I decided I needed space from him.

It was when I was 19 that I finally got back into adventuring as a group, and my first group sent me head first into danger.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't have much content for this seeing as this is just a character backstory. I wrote this several years ago and I may or may not go back in and flesh things out someday, but for now I thought I would just share this with y'all.
> 
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